American Crusader
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| American Crusader | |
 Thrilling Comics #22 |
|
| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Nedor Comics AC Comics America's Best Comics |
| First appearance | Thrilling Comics #19 |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Archibald "Archie" Masters |
| Team affiliations | AC Comics: Sentinels of Justice ABC: SMASH |
| Abilities | superstrength, flight, superspeed, invulnerability to bullets, and electromagnetic pulse generation |
The American Crusader is a fictional character and a superhero who originally appeared in Thrilling Comics #19 (Better Publications, 1941). The character was revived in the modern age in Femforce 59 by AC Comics and in Tom Strong #11 by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse.
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[edit] Character history
His secret identity is Professor Archibald (Archie) Masters, an astronomy professor at an unnamed university in the Eastern United States.
The character debuted in 1941, his mousy alter-ego being similar to that of Superman's Clark Kent identity. He created a device called an atom smasher, and, inevitably, the experiment went awry. Instead of killing him, the accident blasted him with radiation, which endowed him with various superhuman abilities. He used these powers to fight crime as the American Crusader.
Prof. Masters had a secretary named Jane Peters. The Crusader had a teen sidekick named Mickey Martin.
The Crusader appeared in the following titles in the Golden Age:
- America's Best Comics 6
- Thrilling Comics 19-35, 37-39, 41
[edit] Revivals
[edit] AC Comics
The American Crusader, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, were revived by AC Comics through the Vault of Heroes, a suspended animation program for superheroes. He was revived and joined the Sentinels of Justice.
[edit] America's Best Comics
The American Crusader, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, were revived by Alan Moore in his series Tom Strong. This revival set the characters on a parallel world called Terra Obscura, which was also the title of the resulting mini-series.
The Crusader apparently (from a Terra Obscura continuity standpoint) operated as a superhero until 1969, when, on a mission to stop an alien from converting Earth into a spaceship, he was imprisoned in an alien restraining device which Tom Strong imagined to be a heavily localized time-loop. This bubble kept him in suspended animation until he was freed in 2000 by Strong, and his fellow SMASH member, Tom Strange.
Described by Strong as "probably the first nuclear science-hero", he is "possibly even more powerful than Tom Strange".
Within the Terra Obscura continuity, he is an alcoholic, currently seeking help for his addiction. He operates with the modern incarnation of SMASH.
[edit] Project Superpowers
American Crusader appears in the mini-series Project Superpowers by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger in the form of a group of super powered beings called the Crusaders.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The American Crusader is capable of flight, superhuman strength, invulnerability to bullets, and electromagnetic pulse generation. The full extent of his powers at this time is unknown.
